The point is to stop them using highly polluting cars OR stop driving altogether OR something in the middle. So the person you're responding to is right. The "older people" were saying in a roundabout away that they'd rather stop driving than playing along by getting less polluting car. And the correct answer to that is indeed: "you've made your choice, that was the entire point".
> The point is to stop them using highly polluting cars OR stop driving altogether OR something in the middle.
You can get a compliant car for as little as 1000 pounds. Virtually all gasoline powered cars after 2010 are compliant. It's not about stopping people driving altogether.
I'm not british either, but I understand the culture here is to disparage and discriminate against poor people in a slightly more polite and indirect way.
I don’t live in London though and generally don’t drive much either. When I visit people In London I either take the train or drive and pay the charge.
It is more expensive but for the amount I have to drive in London it’s fine for now.
All the diesel cars bought in the mid aughts when the fuel was still considered environmentally friendly thanks to its lower CO2 emissions.
Then again it's not like there are no buyers for the vehicles - my relative recently bought a 2012 diesel VW Golf from, apparently, a Londoner or someone who drives there frequently and didn't get that huge of a discount on it.
Sell the diesel, buy gasoline and enjoy not paying as much as you lost on the sale, only every year.
ULEZ and similar scheme are not about vehicle size. They are about Euro-spec of the engine.
There is a very vocal opposition against those: big recent SUVs are compliant, but small old cars are not, which goes against how people perceive their respective emissions.
In general:
- any EV or hybrid is OK
- petrol cars are OK if they're not too old (depending on Euro rating of the engine, I also have a 22 yo compliant petrol car, though a car from the same year could be non-compliant if the engine has a lower Euro rating)
- diesel cars need to be recent (in general equipped with DPF and other emission-control equipment that's become mandatory to pass more recent Euro-specs)
Sure. Wouldn’t drive an enormous car. I live in the county, would struggle on the narrow lanes with one of those Chelsea tractors. Big cars are only needed in the city.
Yeah, the whole "I can't afford to drive due to the ULEZ" argument really used to annoy me ... I have a 2005 Toyota (my first car, which I can't emotionally get rid of it), and it's ULEZ compliant, and it's value is probably £500 ... no excuses in my books, especially as second hand car prices are plumetting (where I am anyway).
If you can't afford a £500 car, you probably shouldn't be driving anyway.
"If you're not driving by the age of thirty, you've failed in life" was a quote I believe was attributed to Thatcher. She did some great stuff, but I'm not sure I agree with that one.
You might want to re-read what I've wrote. You've entirely misconstrued it ... (and I'm in the 'pull down the Thatcher statues and dump them in the ocean' brigade).